Shawn Rowe

Within Shawn Rowe’s work, a quiet repose emerges, where moments of introspection grow long while light and atmosphere become tactile. Landscape imagery punctuates this self-portrait, serving as metaphor to discuss the symbiosis between nature and the body. V characterizes this relationship as both internal and external, with each body leaving marks upon the other. The power structures that support this dialogue manifest as visual interruptions in the intervening space between reflection and perception. In this work, Shawn creates a space to discuss a range of definitions of masculinity, sexuality and gender in order to articulate acceptance and resolve.

The title V describes the ambiguity of the project itself. In ancient times, V was used interchangeably with the letter U. V is the Roman Numeral for five and embodies a downward pointing arrow. For this work, the two lines that create the letter V intersect where the body and the environment exchange forces. These images represent a visualization of this conversation. Like the letter V, Shawn asks the viewer to bring their own associations and meanings to the images and the body of work as a whole.

Amy Fink

In the face of great loss, how do we form meaning? Privately, we grapple with the event, we feel the sting and the irony of loss all at once. We always knew this was coming even though we didn’t know when. Publicly, we seek. Our minds become spiritual, there’s a vision in every parking lot, down every hallway. Every bird we hear is singing the song so and so used to whistle. Somewhere in these symbols we are meant to find solace. Yet the journey towards healing that we’ve embarked on feels more and more like a rat race, looping its wheel over and over until we exhaust ourselves back to normalcy.

In this ongoing project, Amy Fink works in contention with her family’s grief since the loss of her mother. This irreversible rupture changed everything, for all of them: how they see the world, how they consume their days, how they interact. While these motivations are not opaquely addressed in this body of work, these factors culminate and reveal themselves photographically to communicate broader themes of entropy, maternal care, nostalgic tendencies, and- in tandem, the folly involved in the impossible fight for control over it all.

Amy Fink is a fine arts photographer who received her BFA in Photography from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2018. She was born and raised in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and currently lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. She is currently the Interim Director of Exhibitions at Aviary Gallery.